If you find a vintage opera disc labeled “The Great Tenors,” you’d presumably expect it to contain the likes of Caruso, Escalaïs, Jadlowker, Smirnov, and Cazette: headliners at a time when the word referred not only to their place on the marquee but in metropolitan newspapers and social fetes. Symposium has chosen to look deeper. While those of us who are vocal collectors will know most of the names on this release, the enthusiasts just getting into the hobby might wish to consider this collection. It will expand their awareness of just how numerous and varied were the great tenors, in style, voice, and training, in the first half of the 20th century.

Despite leaving a lot of fine material unexplored, they run the gamut. Giuseppe Borgatti was an Italian specialist in Wagner, whose later recordings, presented here, display a lyrical voice and sure understanding of the music, compromised by declining chest resonance. Julius Bochní?ek’s voice is a sensitively treated lyric that combines portamentos and white tone with an unexpected Italianate warmth. The spinto Antonio Paoli was rightly noted for his brilliant top and stamina. Heinrich Knote’s intelligently used lyric doesn’t preclude displaying some good metal in Alessandro Stradella. René Lapelletrie provides the audible equivalent of a velvet glove over a steel gauntlet: plenty of heft, along with a refinement that allows him to shade his large voice easily, quickly, down to a thread. Petre Munteanu’s lightly veiled tone, sensitive manner, and attention to character put him in the same class for me as Cesare Valletti.

René Maison’s Lohengrin was once referred to in a review by William Youngren as “effete”; be that as it may, here his singing in Alfano’s Resurrection displays a rich lyrico spinto with a typically rapid vibrato, as well as passion and excellent enunciation. Campagnola was a French spinto with a finely focused tone, and an exciting but emphatic presence; his Carmen finale (with Suzanne Brohly) turns Don José into a psychopath. Though that isn’t presented on this disc, some hint of it can be heard in the very un-French way he breaks up the vocal line to express emotion in “Téte adorée.”

My own favorite in the group is César Vezzani. The Corsican was what the French term a tenor-fort, combining the lightness of a lyric with the endurance and strength of a spinto. He was also at ease with coloratura; these traits, combined with a gleaming brightness to his tone, have made “Si l’univers entier” (from Grétry’s Richard Cśur de Lion, one of his big successes) his most celebrated recording among recent collectors. His “Je veux encore entendre,” presented here, is similarly brilliant, but also shows him softening well on the phrase, “si tendre.” He was known for his extended range, up to a C?, and there are two of those produced with ease in this selection.

A couple of inclusions on this album might raise an eyebrow at the use of the word “great.” The Irish heroic tenor John O’Sullivan, for example, displays almost no sensitivity to phrasing, breathing patterns, or language—though at least his tone is produced with a degree of freedom on these unusually early test pressings, believed to have been recorded in 1906–1909. Or Selmar Cerini: a Jewish cantor and concert artist in Wroc?aw, who combined a tight, throaty sound with great coloratura facility. Neither was ever celebrated during his lifetime, though O’Sullivan had a few zealous advocates—that failed tenor, James Joyce, among them. I detect in their selection the invisible hand of an editor who believes passionately in his or her favorites.

Each artist gets a paragraph that provides career highlights and a sentence or two about their respective voices. The back of the jewel case lists matrix numbers and dates. As in all Symposium releases, filtering is avoided, so you get more voice with your disc crackle. Recommendations? A good starting point for new enthusiasts who can then look to specific releases of artists, vocal fachs, and styles they especially enjoy. A delight, too, for those who simply enjoy great singing.